Smogon University PO Statistics — May 2012

Since i know of a few people atleast (shoutout to Spade and Wile) who like to see em, here are the Pokemon that changed positions in OU, UU, RU, NU and Ubers, up to number 60. If someone wants LC, posting saying so, otherwise i'll leave it at that. And my goodness, Volcorona's jump in Ubers is the biggest i've ever seen!

Im sorry ive fallen in love with forretress recently because it can set infront of Skarm and Ferrothorn all day and spin their hazards away no problem. Low on HP, just take some. HP ice forretress is pretty useful, much more useful than gyroball any day to be honest.

I expect Conkeldurr to border UU somewhere in the future. He's not a serious contender in OU anymore with strong special attackers, Gliscor, and slower defensive Pokemon keeping him firmly in line. As much as I like him occasionally and want to use him, it's too punishing to even have him on your team right now.

Now suppose, by some stretch of the imagination, he had access to a Shadow Punch tutor in BW2. With Iron Fist, that's kind of a gamechanger:

+1 on Slowbro: 46.7% - 55.3%
+1 on Reun: 56.1% - 66%

As long as he's checked rather than hopelessly walled, we're in business. But he's still dealing with that fast special attacker bit, so I'm not expecting him any higher than low OU even with these changes accounted for.

It's about time, I had predicted Drapion for Top 10 in November 2011 stats and it has finally gained the usage it deserves. Drapion is an excellent Pokemon using either its Specially Defensive Stallbreaker set or its Taunt + Swords Dance set and both sets to tons of work every single match. The only trouble I can see for it in the future is Nidoqueen's possible drop(but thanks to us at TAONU, this might not even drop at all ;D) Lanturn is still and has always been an awesome special sponge and great pivot in RU, and is my favorite Pokemon. As for Cryogonal it is the best Rapid Spinner in RU. In terms of spinning it beats Sandslash and others due to its ability to beat Ghost-types outside of Spiritomb even with its Offensive set(The best set IMO as it lures in things like Aggron to get HP Ground and has good speed and good power, while still being able to beat the Ghost-types)

My children have gone up in usage it seems. Abomasnow and Deo-D have always been fantastic Pokemon to use in OU, but seems more and more people are seeing their potential. Abomasnow's bets set in my opinion would have to be the Expert Belt set due to its ability to OHKO what it needs to with Ice Shard and Seed Bomb/Wood Hammer and lure in Scizor/Heatran/Magnezone expecting a common Choice Scarf set only to get killed by HP Fire or Earthquake, respectively. Deoxys-D on the other hand is a great stallbreaker and actually works nicely on Hail teams thanks to it resist to Fighting-type attacks and ability to take on most Lucario and Terrakion and the ability to set up Spikes.

ITS ROTT TIME!!! Or even Samurott Jack or KakaROTT the super saiyan Samurott. Even though special sets are getting more and more popular, SD is still on 66% of Samurott it seems. With the ability to break through Tangela and even Amoonguss and Vileplume with the help of hazards its no surprise that ROTT TIME is so popular in NU. Its good bulk allows it take a fair amount of hits while setting up and can even help it get into Torrent range. As for Drifblim AcroBlimp is amazing! Most are using it with Destiny Bond though I feel that AcroBlimp best potential is reached with a Disable instead. You can use its great typing and immunities alongside Disable and Will-O-Wisp to really mess with opponents and get free Substitutes or free hits with Acrobatics in. It even won me a game by Disabling a Torkoal's Lava Plume so that my SubCalm Mind Serperior could come in there are set up.

Wow Reuniclus and Conkeldurr are far lower than they should be. Reunclus has barely any hard counters, even if they are used a lot, while Conkeldurr has such huge power. After two bulk up's, he is nigh on unstoppable. And Toxicroak. How is that so low? Whenever I come across it, I lose a poke or two. Sure, it depends on weather but it has incredible power.

Wow Reuniclus and Conkeldurr are far lower than they should be. Reunclus has barely any hard counters, even if they are used a lot, while Conkeldurr has such huge power. After two bulk up's, he is nigh on unstoppable. And Toxicroak. How is that so low? Whenever I come across it, I lose a poke or two. Sure, it depends on weather but it has incredible power.

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I think the reason for Reuniclus' failure to break the top 20 is specifically that; because it's counters and checks are so common, Scizor in particular. It's hard to sweep with Reuniclus when Scizor is on over a quarter of the teams, and even harder when half the teams without Scizor have Tranitar on them instead. Then there's the fact that it's sometimes hard to find a teamslot for it, since its support options are limited, meaning all it can do is check Stall or High Offense (depending on set), both of which are falling in popularity and tend to have ways of dealing with Reuniclus.

Conkeldurr simply suffers from competition, especially due to the existence of Terrakion which is more immediately threatening and honestly not much less bulky. It also faces competition in the bulky set up sweeper department from Dragonite. Between these two, Conkeldurr simply is overlooked a lot of the time. Combine that with a lack of variety in its movesets limiting the number of roles it can play, and you get why it doesn't appear as often as it probably should. I agree, it totally wrecks stuff up though and slaughters unprepared teams... which includes a lot of teams.

Toxicroak, I honestly don't think is overlooked. It's just that it's ONLY any good on rain teams. If you look at it, its usage on rain teams is comparable to Dragonite's usage on all teams, which is actually pretty impressive. It should be noted though that Toxicroak does suffer pretty severely from 4MSS and that its weakness to ground attacks really doesn't do it any favors.

Wow complete legitimacy, you got me all pumped up about Magmortar in RU, let's see what he can do.

It is about time that Cryogonal leaves from NU, since it has been the best spinner in RU for some months now, let alone NU. And instead of making him RU months ago, we chose to use shit such as Sandslash as our spinners, which is a shit mon, no way how you see it, and the only reason that people are using him is because he gets the combo of SR + Rapid Spin. Otherwise he is just an inferior Claydol, which wasn't the best poke in RU anyway.

Also give Mienshao a break. The fact that he hits as hard as LO Terrakion with LO HJK, and that even if he has coverage issues, U-turn gives you a way around your counters, allowing you to chip their health little by little, or simply trap and kill them (Jellicent), while being almost immune to passive damage, makes him a very good poke imo. People are just using other fighters such as Terrakion and Breloom, and so Mienshao gets left out, but when you know when to chose Mienshao instead of Terrakion, he will surely pull his weight (btw Terrakion can't pass subs without losing any health, can he?).

Finally Conkeldur suffers greatly from lack of versatility, and this will be fixed when he gets his elemental punches and his DW ability. With a LO and Iron Fist as his ability, Conkedlurr can be a superb revenge killer that can even ohko Excadrill after SR (not OU i know, but it could become again after he gains some check such as DW Conk and DW Breloom). Also with 2 viable abilities (Iron Fist and Guts), people won't be sure how to counter Conk any more. Do i status it or does it have Guts? Do i send Slowbro in, or will it murder me with Iron Fist boosted Thunderpunch? Countering Conk will be an almost impossible feat to achieve anymore, and this will make Conk take a living breath once again in OU, so don't give up on this big mofo guys...!

Lol, in my honest opinion guts is better than iron fist about 99% of the time. Part of what makes conk such a boss is that it doesn't care about scalds, and generally people won't toxic or WoW it for fear of the guts boost. I'm honestly mystified as to the things low use. It has enough bulk to take hydro pumps from rotom (outside of rain) and heal them off with drain punch; It also stomps scizor with ease. The only thing it worries about at all on standard offense is landorus, and fast psychics if they pack one, though non-LO celebi can't KO conk with a little extra bulk and will fall prey to payback. The only things conk is really afraid of are Gliscor, Dragonite, and BU Croak, along with stuff like specs Latios and Reuniclus. As for stall, Conk rampages through every defensive team that doesn't pack Gliscor/Tangrowth/Hippo/Dnite/Slowbro. Though some of those are really common, if they're removed the game becomes a cakewalk.

I also don't get the hate for Forry. Seriously, this guy is such a little monster, especially with a little spA and HP Ice- It sets up and spins in gliscor, skarm, etc's faces while actually posing a threat to dragons and glisc. I think why a lot of people think forry is bad now is because they try to run it like a wall, or run a set with multiple hazards. Really, it's more of a defensive poke that can float around with volt switch and spin/set up your chosen hazard at every opportunity. The number of free turns you get whenever forry comes in is simply amazing. For this reason, I like a set of HP Ice/Rapid Spin/Volt Switch/Spikes. Free hazards(more than once), free spins, and the ability to stomp on landorus, gliscor, and dnite(locked into outrage). Skarm can also handle this stuff, but it doesn't actually take them out- it just sets up hazards and then sits around, while forry can set up hazards and then score KOs. It also has a slow volt switch, making it perfect for getting your sweeper in without having to switch into an attack.

Time to propel Salamence to top 10. Seriously, I almost never leave without it. Choice Scarf Moxie is just so good. Get some Hazards up, eliminate any steels then watch as you take out 2+ pokemon and your Outrage's just keep getting stronger and stronger. Albeit Dragonite being the dominate Dragon in OU and the far better setup sweeper, Salamence may claim a few scalps.

Time to propel Salamence to top 10. Seriously, I almost never leave without it. Choice Scarf Moxie is just so good. Get some Hazards up, eliminate any steels then watch as you take out 2+ pokemon and your Outrage's just keep getting stronger and stronger. Albeit Dragonite being the dominate Dragon in OU and the far better setup sweeper, Salamence may claim a few scalps.

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Salamence is awesome (and a nice change of pace from Dragonite), but you just touched on the reason he's not top 10; when most people need a Dragon, they tend to go for the more generally useful Dragonite. It's hard to fit two Dragon/Flying types on a team while covering all threats. Great pokemon, but he has to much competition.

Don't compare dragonite and salamence, they are completely different pokemon.
Dragonite plays mostly as a wall-breaker or rain abuser, while mence acts as a late game cleaner come revenge killer or appears on sun teams to defeat enemy dragons and heatran. While the type overlap is an issue, there is no reason why these two can not be used on the same team, in fact many players do.

On a side note:

Code:

| 82 | Staraptor | 5687 | 1.317% | 4789 | 1.346%

This is ludicrous, as a fond user of the emo bird I can safely say that Staraptor is an absolute boss, nigh everything is 2HKO'd by the appropriate move. With a choice band or life orb 'raptor turns into one of the most formidable foes a stall team could face, due to Staraptor's immense power and perfect neutral coverage; Choice scarf is a different matter entirely as it has blazing speed while retaining most of the jaw dropping of the CB set, these two factors comine to make 'raptor one of the deadliest scarfers in OU, only being beaten out by Mence and possibly terrakion.

If Cryogonal leaves for RU, it would be about time. but then again a heir to the throne of best spinner would have to be found, my money is on Armaldo, he has the bulk and attack stat to be a very versatile spinner and work well in the NU metagame, and take a look at all the other candidates, torkoal, wartortale, delibird, spinda? it's obvious who's the best

The only important thing about any of these stats is that 0.0% of people are using multiweather baton pass.....what's wrong with smogon? LOL jk, waiting for virizion to go to uu along with the hopeful chansey, that'll make it a bit more fun down there....that'll make it a bit more fun down there wasn't meant to sound perverted....

Don't compare dragonite and salamence, they are completely different pokemon.

Dragonite plays mostly as a wall-breaker or rain abuser, while mence acts as a late game cleaner come revenge killer or appears on sun teams to defeat enemy dragons and heatran.

Whaaaaaaaa. Sure sometimes they have different sets, but at the end of the day you are choosing between two Dragon/Flying types with similar attacking stats and movepools. You know they are comparable when you want a physical Dragon in a slot, you choose between Haxorus; Dragonite, and Salamence. Salamence 2nd most used set shares almost all the moves of Dragonite's bread and butter DD set. I would also argue that Salamence is also a better wallbreaker than Dragonite. Not only in regards to classic MixMence, but the CB set. How do you deal with something as fearsome as Moxie CBmence? Don't you dare death-fodder to get a safe switch-in, or else fear my 910 attack outrage.

While the type overlap is an issue, there is no reason why these two can not be used on the same team, in fact many players do.

These type overlaps really only occur on the most offensive of teams, where synergy is a non-issue.

I can't really say I'm all too suprised about the drop of Latias. It just seems like is has to invest so much in a certain stat to prevent itself from being outclassed by Latios, and since it invests so much in its defenses, stuff like Haxorus can then outspeed and kill it. Also, Celebi is arguably a better stop to rain teams. I'm not saying Latias should be UU or anything, but -7 is a pretty big drop.

Getting on the Conkeldurr bandwagon, I wouldn't be suprised if it moved down to UU eventually, but if he moves down, then I think something like Virizion, Meinshao, Scrafty, Toxicroak, or any of those other Fighters chilling near 4% - 3.4% should move down too.

Down to NU though...

| 6 | Emboar | 4411 | 10.156% | 3640 | 9.921% | +21

What took people so long to realize how much of a pro this guy was? He went up a ton for a metagame with a decent playerbase, and I can really understand why.

| 41 | Regice | 2005 | 4.616% | 1698 | 4.628% | +37

I didn't see a single Regice this month, and yet it moved up that much? Am I missing something?

| 46 | Charizard | 1904 | 4.384% | 1565 | 4.266% | -31

Poor guy. The likely chance of losing Cryogonal next month is REALLY going to sting for him, too.

I can't really say I'm all too suprised about the drop of Latias. It just seems like is has to invest so much in a certain stat to prevent itself from being outclassed by Latios, and since it invests so much in its defenses, stuff like Haxorus can then outspeed and kill it. Also, Celebi is arguably a better stop to rain teams. I'm not saying Latias should be UU or anything, but -7 is a pretty big drop.

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Um, what? The standard Latias runs 252 HP/ 4 SpA/ 252 Spd, with no defensive investment at all, and honestly it really doesn't have to work to not be "outclassed by latios." Unless you're trying to run full-on offensive latias, it plays as a defensive resource and in some situations it can pull a late-game sweep. I attribute latias's usage drop to Scizor, Dnite, and Tyranitar sitting up at the top of the usage statistics. It also suffers from a small degree of 4mss, as it needs dragon pulse, CM, and recover on the set, while it can either run HP fire to have a chance vs steels, refresh/sub to avoid status, or roar because it's, well, roar. Still, its such a cool pokemon and it's sad to see it drop down like this. Maybe I'll build a latias team sometime...

Yeah, if anything should go in that underrated OU Poke thread, it's Latias. So many teams seem very underprepared for it short of having Scizor or TTar around, and if you have neither, you better have a phaser. If you have none of three, she can really hurt, and hell she does even if you do have any of the above with the proper cleaning.

No worse feeling then seeing Latias come out and realizing you have nothing to stop her from setting up and just sitting there ready to +6 Dragon Pulse your team to death because you didn't think of her on your Threat List.